Yep, I went out and spent money. On two cute little Otto's. Here's the scoop:
Long ago I bought a 10 g as hospital tank for a socolofi that had no fins. He regained all but parts of his dorsal and the cadual. A nice but no so bright guy put a firemouth and a convict (both not much more than fry) in with him. Burp went the little socolofi and again he was alone. The little socolofi then gave up on life either due to age or lonliness (he later aquired a little sailfin pleco for company, but I suspect they didn't have much in common) he is much missed for his spunk. (let's not speak of the matter of the socolofi not getting a bigger tank)
So this tank set in Cory's bedroom for about two months with a growing little sailfin in it who became lazy and wouldn't eat the algae on the glass, or the ornaments, or anything, prefering the wafers and cucumber that would be placed there as a treat. (he's being grown for the 55g in the dining room, and he's ready now)
Cory got tired of scraping the glass and scrubbing the ornaments. He did a little research (very little mind you comapred to some of the brains about this forum) and decided on the otto's (Otocinclus affinis). Cory moved the water parameters in the 10g slowly to more soft, with a pH of 6.8. This pH became stable so Cory went to the LFS and purchased two little otto's.
Big mistake, as while they were being bagged, the LFS assistant had to do something else leaving Cory to browse the tanks.
So to make this long story longer, the Otocinclus, which are not the most robust fish, have been doing really well, though Cory has been vigilant in testing water before it goes in the tank after water changes. Since they have been happy and swimming around and eating algae left and right off of the deco's, Cory wants to get a pair of German Rams now. Since the water paramentrs have been stable, since the otto's are doign well it seems like a good idea (to Cory anyway).
But that's not all, Cory will be upgrading the tank to at least a 29 soon. (A soon as someone gives one away) and would like the follwing:
2 otto's
2 German Rams
2 Kribs
3 neon tetra's
3 rummy nose tetra's
It looks like (on paper) there would be no problems as long as the kribs and rams don't get into it, and that's what I am worried about, does a 29g have a decent enough footprint for the two? Like I said what I have read it seesm like it will work though it looks like a barrier of rocks or deco's betwen the two territories will ease things a bit, but I'd rather get it from someone who has experieince. Also looking on doing a little planting in this tank if that matters at all.
